The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-05
TWO ANCIENT STATESMEN.
They Have Places on the Hudson and
in the Metropolis.

New York, Dec. 3-There are two re-
tired statesmen of the old school yet living
in this city who are rarely before the public
nowadays, but who are occasionally to be
met with in the society of fortune and
fashion | refer to Hamilton Fish, who is
Republican, and John Bigelow, who is a
Democrat. You may see Mr.. Fish ON Sun
days at st. Marks Episcopal church, of
which he is one of the pillars, and you may
happen to see Mr.. Bigelow at the Rev. Mr..
Stewards Swedenborgian church. in the doc
trines of which he is a believer. Both of
these ancient statesmen are wealthy; both
have heirs with political proclivities, and
both are enriched with two generations of
posterity Both of them, in addition to
their city establishments, have estates on
the Hudson-Mr. Bigelow's being adjacent
to West Point, and Mr.. Fish's just opposite
to it, on the other side of the river
Hamilton Fish, who is now an octogena-
rian, was Governor of the State of New
York forty years ago, and was member of
Congress eight years before that time His
last public service was as a member of
President Grants Cabinet, in which he held
the Office of Secretary of State for both of
Grants terms, and as such negotiated the
treaty of Washington. In looking at the
venerable Mr.. Fish, who appears hale as he
takes an airing on Second avenue, near his
residence, in Seventeenth street. ones
memories are carried back to the early time
of our republic, in the establishment of
which his father rendered distin-
guished services as a colonel
In the revolutionary army under George
Washington. MIR. Fish is yet full of the
| "reminiscences of those days which clus-
tered round his fathers fireside, and they
seem as fresh to him as when he heard them
| in the little city of New York in the early
years of the century. The aged statesman
suffered heavy shock few months ago in
the death of his wife, an event which oc-
Cured soon after the celebration of their
| golden wedding in the company of twenty
| three of their children and grandchildren
| He is a mellow old gentleman, full of dig
nifty, and not destitute of geniality.
John Bigelow is septuagenarian, having
| passed the three score and ten milestone a
| few days ago. But he is yet very fresh in
spirit, and it is not hard to induce him to
take his alpenstock and join you in climb
| ing the mountain ridges that rise over his
estate on the Hudson 1t is between forty
and fifty years since he first held office under
| the State government; his most important
public service was rendered as Minister to
| France about the period of the close of the
war, though, after that time, when his
| friend, Samuel j. Tilden, was Governor
| of New York, he held the place of Secretary
of State at Albany. Mr. Bigelow is man
of great literary ability; he passed many
years of his life in New York journalism,
and his name is to be found on the title
page of half a dozen books, not the least
valuable of which is the life of Benjamin
Franklin in three volumes. His four daugh-
| tiers are as famous for their beauty and ac-
complishments as his wife was in other days.
1t is pleasant in the hurly-burly of the
city to meet two such dignified statesmen
| of the olden times as John Bigelow and
Hamilton Fish. JOHN SwINToN